University of Delaware Library
Special Collections

John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck, 1902-1968. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Viking, 1939.

Steinbeck brilliantly captured the lives of the Depression-era
migrant workers in The Grapes of Wrath. Combining anger
at social injustice with empathy for a single family struggling
against poverty, Steinbeck forced readers to confront
the injustices faced by the rural poor.

John Steinbeck, 1902-1968. The Grapes of Wrath; with lithographs by Thomas Hart Benton.
New York: Limited Editions Club, 1940.

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) was the leading American
Regionalist artist of the first half of the twentieth
century. His affinity for portraying the common man made
him a good match for Steinbeck's story of social injustice
and family strength.

John Steinbeck, 1902-1968. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: The Modern Library 1941.

The Modern Library reprinted popular literary works in
uniform, inexpensive, but well-bound editions. From 1920
until 1946, all books were priced at ninety-five cents.
Their success continued until the rise of the paperback
in the 1960s.

John Steinbeck, 1902-1968. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Editions for the Armed
Services. Council on Books in Wartime, circa 1945.

The Armed Services Editions introduced thousands of American
soldiers to both popular and classic literature. Between
1943 and 1947, nearly 123 million copies of 1,322 titles
were distributed free to U. S. Armed Forces around the
world.

John Steinbeck, 1902-1968. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Bantam Books, 1945.

Just as Uncle Tom's Cabin had influenced the debate on
slavery before the Civil War, The Grapes of Wrath brought
the plight of the migrant worker to a mass audience. Many
inexpensive editions, such as this Bantam Books edition,
were published.